I am headed to MD Friday to try my hand at stripers in the bay. I am going to use an 8/9wt with intermediate sinking line. What leader set up should I use. We are fishing from a friends boat. I am reading a ton of different. Some are using 9ft tapered leader. Other are using a short 4ft piece of 20lb mono. Where do I go?

sounds like anything chartreuse and white might catch some small stripers as they are being caught all the way between the bridge/tunnel and the susky flats. There is some leader info in the first one.

when I use my intermediate line I use a 3 to 4' section of 15 or 20 lb. fluoro for stripers & other non-toothy fish. If toothy fish are possible I add 6" of a tiable wire via a small o-ring available from feather craft.

Gearing up for this as well, was told most people either use 7' of straight mono or will do a couple feet of different amounts and taper it down.

I bought a couple spools of cheap mono from Walmart, 20# and 15#. I'll probably spring for a spool of 12# tippet, though.

I've whipped up a leader with some really stiff 50# stuff I bought to use as a shock leader in spin casting, but I think its just too heavy for use here. I'll find out when I finally get out to do some practice casting in a field.

For summer stripers in the bay one doesn't need a sophisticated leader set-up. For an intermediate line I'd suggest about 7 feet - 4' of 40lb; about 2 and a half feet of 14lb for "class tippet"; and about 6-8 inches of 40lb shock tippet.For a heavy, fast sink line just use 3-4' (don't exceed 4' with a sinking line) of 14lb with a short shocker.

Sorry if this is late for your trip, but depending where on the bay, I also bring along a shooting head like a Teeny 350 or similaras sometimes they are sitting pretty deep in the bay. I agree with most of the comments above as well in that your leader does not have to be anything fancy. I typically used a shock tippet only because I did not want to have to cut and re-tie my fly as often.

(FYI, I used to live i the DC area). Highly recommend a crab colored clouser minnow as well. (olive over white with gold flashbou and bright orange danville flat waxed nylon thread). It is a killer pattern for the area.